Nivea's 'White Is Purity' ad campaign did not end well

Amy B Wang, The Washington Post

Published
11:08 am PDT, Thursday, April 6, 2017

German body and skin care brand Nivea has ended its “White Is Purity” advertising campaign following intense backlash from social media users who accused the company of racism.
The company ran an advert for its Invisible for Black & White deodorant, which featured a photo of a woman draped in a white sheet with the slogan “White Is Purity” across the bottom of the image:
The ad first appeared on the company’s Middle East Facebook page last week.

Media: WochIt Media

Nivea has pulled a deodorant ad that declared "White Is Purity" after people protested that the slogan is racist, and after others hijacked the ad's online campaign with comments about white supremacy.

The ad, which appeared in a Facebook post last week, originally targeted the German skin care company's followers in the Middle East. It was intended to promote Nivea's "Invisible for Black and White" deodorant and depicted the back of a woman's head with long, wavy, dark hair that tumbled over an all-white outfit.

Underneath the woman's locks was the slogan in all caps: "WHITE IS PURITY."

Another Twitter user took images of racist comments that had been left on the Facebook post, some referencing the Holocaust.

"Wow @NiveaUSA. This is horrendous," the person wrote. "Your comments are FULL of society's refuse. This cleared your marketing department? #prnightmare"

Still others appeared to praise the ad - for the same reasons.

The Daily Mail captured an image of a post by a white supremacist group on Nivea's Facebook page that read, "We enthusiastically support this new direction your company is taking. I'm glad we can all agree that #WhiteIsPurity."

"Nivea has chosen our side and the most liked comments are glorious," another Twitter user said, with an image of the top comments on Nivea's Facebook post.

One showed Pepe the Frog, a meme that in recent years was co-opted by white supremacists and has been declared a hate symbol.

Another showed a picture of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler edited to depict him with glowing orbs of light for eyes.

A handful of threads on the anonymous online forum 4chan praised the Nivea ad slogan's apparent, if unintended, link to white supremacy and encouraged people to "LIKE ALL COMMENTS, BUY THEIR PRODUCTS."

Nivea has since deleted the Facebook post, though images of the ad are still widely available online. Metro UK reported that the post remained publicly visible over the weekend and was only removed Monday after the news outlet inquired about it.

Representatives for Nivea's parent company, Beiersdorf Global, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment Tuesday.

However, the company appeared to spend much of the day individually replying to people on Twitter who were outraged by the ad.

NiveaUK tweeted: @benjancewicz@plumandmustard@NIVEAUSA This was not a @niveauk post, the NIVEA Middle East post was not meant to be offensive. We deeply apologise and it's been removed.

NIVEA USA tweeted: @maej43@wickdchiq@niveauk The NIVEA Middle East post was not meant to be offensive. We apologize. It's been removed. NIVEA values diversity and tolerance.

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In a statement to BBC News, the company apologized for the post and said it had been removed after "concerns risen about ethnic discrimination."

"We are deeply sorry to anyone who may take offense to this specific post," the statement read. "After realizing that the post is misleading, it was immediately withdrawn. Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of NIVEA: The brand represents diversity, tolerance, and equal opportunity. We value difference. Direct or indirect discrimination must be ruled out in all decisions by, and in all areas of our activities."

An earlier "invisible" ad declaring that "Black Stays black. White Stays White." was still on the Nivea Middle East Facebook page as of Wednesday morning.

This is not the first time Nivea has attracted controversy with its marketing campaigns.

In 2011, an ad for "Nivea for Men" products came under fire for depicting a clean-shaven black man holding a disembodied head with an Afro - presumably his former self - and getting ready to toss it away.

The slogan on that ad? "RE-CIVILIZE YOURSELF."

Adweek noted there was a corresponding "Nivea for Men" ad that showed a white man holding his own disembodied head, but that one didn't include the "re-civilize yourself" slogan. Outrage over the campaign forced Nivea to publicly apologize on its Facebook page.

"Thank you for caring enough to give us your feedback about the recent 'Re-civilized' NIVEA FOR MEN ad," the company's 2011 apology read. "This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again. Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of our company."